Vending-machine.



G. W. MILLER.

VENDING MACHINE. APPLIOATION 11,111) MAY 16, 1911.

1,067,669. Patented July 15,1913.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Vii/Le 5S es: f Eve/Z2 07; I I e rgeid/ flfleg 5 40, w W y w? @001 Qifonoeys (#6292 age es 5 WM G. W. MILLER. VENDING MACHINE. APPLICATIONFILED MAY 16, 1911.

PatentedJuly 15, 1913.

e snnms-simm 2.

a SHEETS-SHEET a.

' "I W lill i' 111 1:

4 /2 8S6 es:

. WM 9 @6079? (Way/ex; g wemww G. W. MILLER.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION rum .MAY 16, 1911 Patented July 15, 1913.

6 SHEETS SHEET 4.

G. W. MILLER.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED my 16, 1911.

1 67,669, Patented July 15, 1913.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5. Z5 Z2 Egg. 6. 225 5? I iUZf/z es ses; RUG/r707; 3Ulxli geo yetd/Vr /ler W iwwjm G. W MILLER.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16, 1911.

1,067,669. Patented July15,1913.

6 SHEETS-SHEETG.

I f 65 66 I fljz frzegse lave/r107; a Maw; w mni/z/er,

UNITED sra rns rarer-er carica- GEORGE W. MILLER, OF .LOS ANGELES,CALIFORNIA.

VENDING-MACHINE.

To aZl whom it may concern: 1 Be it known .that I,;GEoRoE \V. :Mannnn, acitizen of the United States, residing at Los r 1ngeles, inthecounty ofLos ,Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and usefulVending-Machine, of. which the followingisa specification- Q'My objectis to produce a vending machine, which will handle 'delicatepackages,and packages which should not be jammed together or handled roughly, orturned bottom upward in delivery; and-my invention consists of the novelfeatures herein shown,

' described and claimed.

'Inthe drawingsz- Figure 1 is a perspective of a vendingmachine,,embodying the "principles of my invention.

Fig. 2 is an end v-iewas seen looking-in the direction indicated by thearrow 2 in the Fig. 1, parts of the casing being broken away to showtheframe work. Fig. 3 is a'view analogous to Fig. 2. showing a modifiedform of delivery, the delivery in Fig. 2 discharging downwardly at anangleof about forty-five degrees, and the delivery in Fig. 3 discharg=ing on a horizontalplane. iFig; a is a frag-1 mental-y verticallongitudinal section on the lines 4-4 of Figs. 1, 2,8 and 5.'-- Fig. 5is a fragmentary enlarged CIOSS-SGQUOH'OII the line -.5 of Fig Fig.6 1sa'horiz'ontal sectional detail on the line 6 6 -of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is aview analogous to Fig. 5 showing the partsin operation; the parts beingshown at rest in Fig. 5. Fig. 8 is a fragmentary detail perspectiveshowing the construction of the package carriers.

' Referring to the drawingiindetail, I propose to make a single machinehandle any desired numberof different-kinds of goods.

in other .words a machlne may bemade to handle one-kind of goods, suchas box; or package lunches or boxes of chocolate or candy, or a machinemaybe made to handle two or more diflerent kinds of goods.

In Fig: 1 I have shown a machine for handlingfourjdifferent kindsofgoods, as indicated by the. compartments 1, 2,31 and .4, eachcompartment being providedwith -a complete vending mechanism. Theoperating shaft 5 extends horizontally entirely through the fourcompartments, and the operating handle 6 serves to. deliver fromwhichever compartment receives' the coin, there beinga coin slot 7 fortheeimpartment 1, a coin slot 8 for the, compartmentQ, a coin-slot 9 forthecornpartment 3, and a edge.

coin operated mechanism is essentially the I Specification of LettersPatent. v Pigmented Jn1y15, 1913. Q Application filed'May 16,1911.Serial No. 627,568.

same in each of the compartments, and there- I fore I have shown onlythe details of the -mechanism in compartment 1.

The base 11 is preferably made of wood,

and the supporting frames 12 are. secured to the base 11. In the.vending machine shown in Fig. 1 there will be four pairs of thesesupporting frames 12.

Sleeves 13 are mounted upon the operating shaft 5,-'there being onesleeve for each Y of. the compartments, the shaft turning freely in .thesleeves, and the sleeves are mounted inbearings-l t in the frames 12.-

Sprocket wheels 15 and 16 are fixed'iipon the sleeve '13 just inside ofthe frames 12 The countershaft 17 is mounted in the sup porting frames12 near the top of the mach1ne,-par alle l with the operating shaft 5,sleeves-similar. to the sleeves 13 are mountedupon this counter-shafdandsprocket wheels 18 similar toythe Wheels I5 and 16 are fixed upon thesesleeves in alinement with the sprocket wheels 15 and 16, and sprocketchains 19 and 20 connect the upper and lower sprocket wheels; slats 2'1connect the;

sprocket chains 19'and. together. The slats 21 are rectangular in crosssection and have flat upper andlower faces. contacting with each otherwhen the chains are straight;

and this construction assists in holding the package carriers uprightasit provides a series of membersengaging with each other ontheir ad acentfaces so that any strain placed upon one of the members is trans mittedto the otherfmembers.

Tlie package supports 22 are in theform of shelves which are secured tothe slats 21 and extend outwardly. Spring fingers 23 are carried by-thepackage carriers 22 to engage the wrapping string 24 of the package-25,so that-the packages'are supported- .by the-fingers 23 whenthey aretraveling upwardly, asin-the right hand side of Fig.

.2. The shelves 22"eachprefera bly consist of\a flat sheet of metalhaving a flange 28 extending at right angles from itsinner This flange28 is wider than the width of 'aslat to which the flange is attached asshown in 8, so thatthis flange extends up and over the greaterporandcontacts with the bottom of the next tion of the next adjacent: slat onone side and further provides aback for the-shelf which prevents dust,oil and other foreign matter from passing 111 between the slats 21 whenthe slats are turned in passing over the sprocket wheels at the upperand lower ends of the package holders and assists in keeping the articleyended in proper cond-ition.

. A sheet metal casing plate 26 is mounted between each pair ofsupporting frames 12 and extends from the front wall to the rear wall ofthe outer casing, each pair of plates inclosing the package carrier andits content-s, said casing being open in front,'and. there being anopening at the bottom for. delivering the package. Oppositely di's posedpairs of flanges 27 extend inwardly from each casing plate 26 andembrace the sprocket chains and form guidewa'ys for the sprocket chains,so as to hold the spr otzket chains of the package carriera fromsagging.

Any desired number of package'holders 22 may be used in acompartanent,but I prefer to make each compartment contain about sixteenpackages if loaded on one side, or 30-if loaded on both sides. Thepackages are entirely inclosed while in the machine,

and each package is in a chamber by itself so that it does not becomeinjured by being associated with the other packages, and the package iscarried in such a way that very delicate work will not be injured whilein the machine, or while it is being discharged."

Each compartment is provided with an independent coin controlledmechanism,

A wheel 28 is fixed upon the sleeve 13, the periphery of said wheelbeing provided with four: ratchet teeth 29, evenly spaced apart.Anoperating arm 30 is fixed upon the operating shaft 5 beside the wheel28 said arm. extending beyond the inside oi the Wheel 28,

periphery of the wheel- 28, and then laterally to a plane and theoperating head 31 is carried by this the operating shaft 5. A springcasing 32 is carried by the head 31, a plunger 33 is mounted in thespring casing against the spring 34%, and a pin 35 extends horizontallyfrom the plunger 33 through a slot in the spring casing to be engaged bythe coin, and a pin 36 extends horizontally the other way from theplunger 33 through a slot in the casing to engage and operate a can nfA. coin chute 37 extends from the coin slot 7 downwardly to a positionjust inside of the head 31, and then downwardly to near the bottom ofthe machine.

V A ledge 38 extends from the headl3l through a slot in the coin'chute,

so'as to catch and support the coin, and the pin 35 normally stands atrest extending into a slot 39 in the coin chute, so that when acoin 40rests upon the ledge 38, the pin 35 will engage the edge of the coin. Acam 41 into position to be arm 30, said head being a segment of acircle,concentric to menses is pivotally mounted beside the head 31 and a camlever 42 extends from-the cam in posi- 1 tion to engage the pin 31. Apin 43 serves as-a pivot for the cam 41. The pawl is mounted upon thepivot at?) carried by the head 31, the upper end 46 of the pawl engagingthe cam 41 and the lower end 47 of the pawl being in position to engagethe ratchet teeth 29.

the supporting frame 1 2 and a retaining A boss 48 extends from pawl 49mounted upon the boss 48 engages the wheel 28 to hold the wheel fromrotat- I ing backwardly. The locking, pawl 50 is mounted upon the boss48, and points in the opposite direction fromthe pawl 49 to lock pin '36against the-"cam lever 42 and throw the lever upwardly, thus rotatingthecam ll and raising the end 46 of the pawl 4.4, thereby swinging theend 47 of the pawl into engagement with the tooth 29, and throwing thepawl 50 out of engagement. Assoon as the ledge 38 passes from undervthe'coiii, the coin will fall and continued-operation of the operatinghandle 6, will ro tate the wheel 28 operating the package discharged.The pin extends from the pawl 44 in position to pass over the guide 54,when there is no coin in .the machine, and pass under the guide 54: whenthere is a coin in the machine. The

guide 54 is a segment secured to the casing concentric to the'shaft 5,and the object is to hold the pawl 44 in engagement with the tooth 29after it has once started, so there. will be no danger of theoperatorlosing his money'by losing'the connection. A pin 55 extends fromthe cam 41 in position to engage the stop 56 after the coin has beendischarged, said stop serving to throw the cam back to itsnormalposition. The point of the pawl 44 is adapted to hook under the ratchettooth 29, so that when the operating lever is being pushed over the pawlwill not unhook. A coil spring 57 is mounted upon the shaft 5 whenv theoperating lever is in its normal poto return the operating lever to .ltSnormal position against the stop 58, and

sition as in Fig. l, the coin mechanism is in its normal position as inFig. 5.

A branch chute 59 extends from the main" chute 37, the opening leadingto the branch chute, being smaller than the opening througlr the mainchute, so that a thin or narrow coin, or slug will fall through theopening intothe branch chute, and-be discharged without operating themachine. A second branch chute 60 leads fromflthe main chute 37 to thechute 59' and a trap door 61 is mounted upon the pivot 62 in position toswing one way, and closethe main chute 37,

and-swing the other way and close the,

branch chute 60. A crank arm 63 is fixed upon the pivot 62 and the crankpin 64 opcrates in the slot 65 in the link 66, said link.

being connected to the head 81 The crank arm 63 is set at right anglesto the trap door 61, and 'a spring 67 serves to hold the crank pin 64:downwardly against the end of the 5 slot 65.

'When the operating handle is moved to.

make'a discharge, the. head 31 moves in the direction indicated by thearrow, that is to the left in Fig. 5, and the link 66 is pulled zodo-wnwardly, thus allowing the spring 67 to swing the trapdoor 61- in aposition to close the chute 37, so that a coin cannot beinserted andlost during the operation of the machine. If the coin should be insertedwhile the machine is in operation, it would be discharged through thechute 60, and

' when the machine returns to its normal position, as in Fig. 5, thelink-66 overcomes-the tension of the spring 67, and swings thetrap door61 to its normal position, that is in position to close the chute 60,and allows the coin to pass downwardly through the chute 37.

The package carriers consisting each of 5 a pair of sprocket chains, thecorresponding slats 21 which are pivoted theretp and the shelves 22,'are spaced apart, so. that the sprocket chains will move just. the.right space to deliver thepackage at each operation of the machine. InFig. 5 are shown .-four ratchetteeth 29jupon the wheel 28, andeightteeth upon the sprocket wheel, and each package occupies the spaceof two links of the sprocket chains.

decreased, one'simple way 'is to increase or decrease the diameter ofthe sprocket wheels.

and increase or decrease the length. of the links. In Figs. 2 and 5, Ihave shown the delivery at an angle of forty-five degrees;

if the package 25 is properly wrapped and the string 2e placed upon thefinger 23, the package will slide from the carrier-when. in the positionshown in Fig. 5, and if it does 5 not slide, the-operators hand maybeinserted through the discharge opening 68. In Fig. 3 I have shown ahorizontal dis- .charge and this form is desirable in vending packages,which must or should remain upright all the time, as for instance apiece .of pie, or a box of berries. I desire to call special attentionto this feature of my ma- .chine;- the package carrierinay be loaded,

' each package in a chamber by itself,f always 6 right side up ifdesired, and the delivery or If the size. 45 of thepaCkage carrier is tobe ncreased or Fig. 2.

discharge'does not in any way injure the most delicate of articles. Inhandling.

wrapped packages as in Fig. 5, the entire machine-may beloaded, and thenof course the packageson the-might hand'slde of the -Fig. 5 arebottom'upward. NVhen it'is desired to use an article whichshould not. beturned bottom upward, the machine is loaded only on the front side. Itis particuv larly pointed out that'the packages are entirely' separatedfrom each other and inclosed in a chamber formed by the oppositelydisposed partition plates 26, the shelf the rear flange 28 thereof, theadjacent shelf 22 andthe front or rearnvallof the outer casing. Itisifurther pointed out that theflanges 27 extending as they do over thesprocket chains and to the ends of the pack- .age holders as shown inFig. 4 protect the sprocket chains are nevertheless protected I from anycontact with thefood and inclosed in a separate casing by reason of theinclination'of the projecting pairs of flanges 27. Furthermore theplates 26 prevent any portion of the article being nipped between theadjacent faces of the slats 21 when the slats close together afterpassing around the curved ends of thejelliptical path in which thearticle carrier travels. The shelves 22 are not formed with marginalflanges and particularly are notformed with any marginal flanges ontheir forward ends.- This permits 'tliearticle to slide, fromthe shelf22pwhen the shelf 'has reached the angle SllOWIliD Fig. "5. Prior tothat time the resilient "fingers 23 engagethe twine on the package beingvendedand hold the package in a proper-position, even when the shelf isinverted. If it were not for the rear flanges 28 the paper surroundingthese packages would be very liable to be caught be tween'the closingslats2l when the shelves were passing around the upper end of theircurved pat-has shown in the upper part of isuitable housing'is built upfrom the base around the magazine and operating mechanism, and thishousing may be pro- .v'idedwitha removable front and this front may beprovided with glass panels through which-the contents of the machine maybe seen. r Each of the four compartments is a maga carriers mounted tomove up and down, and provided with com controlled mechanism for zinecontaining an endless series of package moving the package carriers stepby step to the delivery opening. It is important that the series ofpackage carriers move up and down, so that in handling and deliveringfragile goods the package carriers Willremain upright. I y c It is to benoted that the flanges 27 which extend inward from the side partitionplates 26 not only form reinforcing webs for the plates and extend overthe sprocket chains as previously described, but that these flanges formguides for the sprocket chains and prevent any sagging of the chains.This is an important point for the rcason'that if the chains sag, therewill bea tendency on the part of the supporting shelves 22 to sag. Thistendency is resisted by the flat-contacting faces of the members 21 uponwhich the shelves are supported but it is still further resisted by theflanges 27 which embrace the sprocket chains. By the term embrace Iinclude flanges which extend into engagement with the sprocket chainseither on the inside or outside.

The details of construction may be varied V in many ways withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention;

I claim p Q 1. A vending machine including oppositely disposedvertically arranged partition plates, upper and lower rotatable membersdisposed in the chamber so formed, a pair' of oppositely disposedcndlessconnections located in said chamber and passing over saidrotatable members, the pair of connections and disposedbetween thepartition plates, means for operating the endless connections to movesaid supports into registry with the delivery opening of the chamber,'and spaced flanges extending inward from the partition plates andacting as guides for the endless connections.

'- ,2. A vending machine including a casing,

an outer casing having a series of delivery openings, a plurality ofpairs of transversely extending partition plates dividing said cas mginto a series of vending chambers, upper and lower rotatable membersdisposed in each'of said chambers, a pair of oppositely disposed endlessconnections located in each of said chambers and passing over saidrotatable members, a pluralityof slats pivotally mounted upon saidconnectingmembers and, disposed between the same, each slat havingpackage supports mounted upon' ed upon said connections,

nuances upper and lower fiat engaging faces, a series of outwardlyprojecting article supports, one mounted upon each slat, means foroperating said endless connections to move said supports into registerwith the delivery opening of the corresponding chamber. and flangesextending inward from each of the partition plates and housing theendless connections.

3.7 A vending machine including a casing having a delivery opening,upper and lower rear flange, said flange being attached to itscorresponding slat and extending over the next adjacent slat.

4. Avending' machine including an.outer' casin havin a series of delive'o enin s b E! i a plurality of pairs of transversely extendingpartition plates dividing said casing into a. series of vendingchambers, upper and lower rotatable members disposed -1n each of saidchambers, a pair f oppositely disposed endless connections located ineach of said chambers and passing over said rotatable .members, aplurality of package supports mounted'upon each pair .of connections anddis? posed between each pair of partition plates, means for operatingsaid endless'connections to move said supports into register with thedelivery opening of the corresponding chamber, and spaced flangesextending inward from'each of the partition plates and aim bracingtheendless connections.

5. A vending machine including a vending I compartment having a frontwall and oppositely disposed side Walls, endless carriers mountedbetween, said side walls and including parallel oppositely-disposedendless flexible connections, and article supports mountand oppositelydisposed pairs of flanges projecting inward from the side Wallsand lessconnections to house the same.

GEORGE w. MILLER. Q Witnesses: I I

Gannon Bouounr, MARK H.'TA'YLoR.

embracing the end-

